Rewrite of Breaking dawn
by Bibliophobic
Summary: Eight months after leaving Forks the Cullens received a life changing package containing one book.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own twilight.**

I brought it on myself. I know that, but it is still painful to be part of this family and not share in their joy. I had that ones but I through it all away.'Edward come join us' Emmett thought.

'Your grumpiness is not good for you brother.' Emmett is always the funny one, never taking anything seriously for to long, except when it comes to Rosalie. I stood up from the piano seat and joined Jasper on the coach who was playing a new game, Emmett bought yesterday.

"Isn't there anything else we can do besides playing video games all day" I asked."Says the guy that's moody in his room most of the time."

Jasper couldn't be around me for awhile, two months ago when I came back to live with them after I said goodbye to Bella. Pain sliced through me at just thinking about her. It always comes back to her and even thought it hurts I wouldn't want it any other way.

What is she doing right now? Probably reading her favourite book.'Your starting again' came from Jasper.

"Sorry" I apologies and while trying to concentrate on the game something strange was happening ,coming from Alice's room. She seems confused about something."What is it Alice?" I asked when she came downstairs." I don't know ,my whole schedule for the day disappeared. It looks like we're gonna have a visitor coming in half an hour. Its a delivery guy and after he leaves we're all going to be gathering in the family room. You better call Carlisle."Alice looked at me.

Jasper feeling Alice's strange mood became worried."Is everything okay darling?" she went an sat on his lap."Yes, everything looks fine. I just can't see what's going to happen while we read."

"We gonna read books?"whined Emmett."What's so great about that.I'm finally at a good level and now you want me to quit to read a book?""Stop whining and go get Rose in the garage."Alice demanded.

Emmett got up murmuring about demanding pixies always getting their way.

An hour later everyone was seated with Carlisle holding the book delivered a few minutes ago.

"So what is this all about" ask Emmett impatiently, wanting to get back to the game to get a chance at beating Jasper.

Carlisle looks at the books that has a black cover with nothing written on it."I don't know, there is a letter that came with the book thought.

"Dear Cullens, Carlisle read out loud. 'I confident this book will be beneficial. I hope it will help make your future a lot better than what it is going to turn out to be.'

"Who is this? What do they mean 'make our future happier?" Esme asked worriedly."Do you think this person is like me and can see the future?" I could see Alice getting excited ,but also a little worried that she didn't see this coming. "I guess we'll have to read and see"came impatiently from Rose.

**PREFACE**

**I'd had more than my fair share of near-death experiences; it wasn't something you ever really got used to.**

It reads like a novel or diary. You think it's one of ours written in the future and this guy transported it back to us so that we can know all the troubles that's gonna happen" Emmett burst out asking excitedly. Everyone just looked at him like he came from another planet. Rosalie just shook her head."To think I'm still surprise sometimes with what comes out of your mouth" she mumbled.

**It seemed oddly inevitable, though, facing death again. Like I really **_**was**_** marked for disaster. I'd escaped time and time again, but it kept coming back for me.**

"Nah, I don't think its about us. We never get that much excitement around here." "Would you just shut up or we're going to sit here all day if you keep interrupting." "Continue Carlisle before they go at each other again"Alice said.

**Still, this time was so different from the others.**

**You could run from someone you feared, you could try to fight someone you hated. All my reactions were geared toward those kinds of killers—the monsters, the enemies.**

Rosalie gave Emmett a look daring him to say something. I gave him to little credit before ,I thought amused. He does know what's good for him,when he remains quiet.

**When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it?**

I could hear everyone being as confused as I was. In what type of situation can a person get himself in to be endangered by someone you cared about.

**If it was someone you truly loved?**

It was quiet for a few seconds as everyone tried to absorb this and try to make sense of it. Alice not having the patients to wait to find out ore about the story looks at the book and ask if she can read next.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own twilight.

"This one is called Engaged" Alice says while turning the page.

1\. ENGAGED

_**No one is staring at you,**_**I promised myself. **_**No one is staring at you. No one is staring at you.**_

_Emmett laughed a little at that._

**But, because I couldn't lie convincingly even to myself, I had to check.**

**As I sat waiting for one of the three traffic lights in town to turn green, I peeked to the right—in her minivan, Mrs. Weber had turned her whole torso in my direction. Her eyes bored into mine, and I flinched back, wondering why she didn't drop her gaze or look ashamed.**

"Why is people staring at her?" Rosalie asked. "And isn't that a good things." "Not everyone is you Rosalie. Some people like to go unnoticed" I told her. Rosalie just shoot me a look that says she didn't ask for my opinion.

**It was still considered rude to stare at people, wasn't it? Didn't that apply to me anymore?**

**Then I remembered that these windows were so darkly tinted that she probably had no idea if it was even me in here, let alone that I'd caught her looking. I tried to take some comfort in the fact that she wasn't really staring at me, just the car. **

_**My**_**car. Sigh.**

Rose perked up again. "A car? Their looking at her because of her car? I wonder what type of car it is. It probably has to be a great one if people are starring at it" she says excited now. Looking at Emmett. Emmett just gave her an indulgent smile with love and amusement in his eyes.

**I glanced to the left and groaned. Two pedestrians were frozen on the sidewalk, missing their chance to cross as they stared. Behind them, Mr. Marshall was gawking through the plate-glass window of his little souvenir shop. At least he didn't have his nose pressed up against the glass. Yet.**

**The light turned green and, in my hurry to escape, I stomped on the gas pedal without thinking—the normal way I would have punched it to get my ancient Chevy truck moving.**

Alice stopped reading after that and looked at me. We were close that way. Always follow each other though process. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking" she asked me. "Probably" I say, not really wanting to get my hopes up.

"What are you two going on about now" Emmett sighed. Always ticked when he wasn't in the loop. Alice continued reading with out answering.

**Engine snarling like a hunting panther, the car jolted forward so fast that my body slammed into the black leather seat and my stomach flattened against my spine. **

"**Arg!" I gasped as I fumbled for the brake. Keeping my head, I merely tapped the pedal. The car lurched to an absolute standstill anyway.**

**I couldn't bear to look around at the reaction.**

Emmett laugh at that. Already forgetting was ticked of a few seconds ago.

**If there had been any doubt as to who was driving this car before, it was gone now. With the toe of my shoe, I gently nudged the gas pedal down one half millimeter, and the car shot forward again.**

**I managed to reach my goal, the gas station. If I hadn't been running on vapors, I wouldn't have come into town at all. I was going without a lot of things these days, like Pop-Tarts and shoelaces, to avoid spending time in public.**

"Well so far we can say for certain that this person is not a vampire" came from Carlisle. Referring to the food mentioned. "Yes, I already knew that. No vampire would ever make a make in driving."Rose says off handedly. Like its a crime to make a mistake like that.

Esme was worried as always about the human. "She must have done something really bad to stay out of public because of it" she says with sympathy.

**Moving as if I were in a race, I got the hatch open, the cap off, the card scanned, and the nozzle in the tank within seconds. Of course, there was nothing I could do to make the numbers on the gauge pick up the pace. They ticked by sluggishly, almost as if they were doing it just to annoy me.**

'She must really not want people to see her' Emmett thought amused.

**It wasn't bright out—a typical drizzly day in Forks, Washington**

Forks! Everyone exclaimed-shocked, except for Alice and I. Although even if we had our earlier suspicions it still came as a shock to know it had to be about Bella's future we were reading about.

Everyone in the room distinctly looked at me like I was a ticking time bomb going to go off at any moment.

'Edward are you alright' Carlisle asked. Everyone's thoughts assaulted me as they came at rapid speed with a lot of questions. When I didn't answer they looked at each other with questions in their eyes.

"It couldn't be about her" I say. Trying to convinced myself also. They looked at me sceptically. "Just because this person lives in Forks doesn't mean its Bella. This book could be from fifty years from now" I mumbled.

But being Alice, she couldn't let me live in denial for long. "Yes, and we know a lot of humans that live in Forks ,use to drive a Chevy and is self conscious about people looking at her" she says sarcastic. "That's right! I forgot about the Chevy" Emmett exclaimed excitedly. Already imagining what laughs this book will bring about their clumsy Bella.

"Lets not keep speculating until we know for sure" Carlisle says while putting his arm around Esme. Knowing she's emotional in the hope that it is about Bella. She wants to know that the human daughter she ones adopted into the family was alright and her life away from them turned out good.

Everyone turned to Alice looking at her impatiently to keep reading.

—**but I still felt like a spotlight was trained on me, drawing attention to the delicate ring on my left hand. **

I put my head down. This was what I was afraid of. Jasper feeling my pain send me calm waves to help. I would give anything to make sure she lives happily without me, but at the same time it crushes me to know that it is not my ring on her finger. That she did moved on like I wanted her to.

Everyone looks at me with sympathy, knowing what the ring means and not knowing what to say to make me feel better.

**At times like this, sensing the eyes on my back, it felt as if the ring were pulsing like a neon sign: **_**Look at me, look at me**_**.**

Alice just shook her had in fondness. That is just so Bella. It couldn't be anyone else that thinks like that.

**It was stupid to be so self-conscious, and I knew that. Besides my dad and mom, did it really matter what people were saying about my engagement? About my new car? About my mysterious acceptance into an Ivy League college? About the shiny black credit card that felt red-hot in my back pocket right now? **

I smiled. Some things will never change about her. Still feels uncomfortable excepting gifts.

"So, does this mean she is still in high school and this book is about Bella's life now" Jasper asked confused. "It could be that she waited a few years before deciding to go to college" Carlisle commanded on Jasper's question.

"Mysterious acceptance into an Ivy league college and black credit card: this sounds an awful lot like us, because that was what you had in mind for you and Bella after we finished school,wasn't it?Do you think you changed your mind in the near future and went back to Forks" Alice asks me cautiously.

Everyone looked at me with raised eyebrows. Esme and Carlisle with hope and concern while the others looked curious and amused.

I didn't know what to say. "I don't think so. Nothing changed. I still thinks we're a danger to her and changing her is not an option" Jasper was looking at me strangely and I knew its because my emotions are all over the place.

"**Yeah, who cares what they think," I muttered under my breath. **

"Talking to yourself Bella" Emmett laugh loudly. "Yeh, because talking to the book isn't crazy at all" came from Rose.

"**Um, miss?" a man's voice called.**

**I turned, and then wished I hadn't.**

**Two men stood beside a fancy SUV with brand-new kayaks tied to the top. Neither of them was looking at me; they both were staring at the car. **

"Why can't they say what car it is?" Rose ask, getting frustrated with not knowing.

**Personally, I didn't get it. But then, I was just proud I could distinguish between the symbols for Toyota, Ford, and Chevy. **

Rose just rolled her eyes. Emmett laughed at her. "If you are so disappointed, you should have given her some points" he says cheekily knowing she's get mad.

**This car was glossy black, sleek, and pretty, but it was still just a car to me. **

"**I'm sorry to bother you, but could you tell me what kind of car you're driving?" the tall one asked.**

"**Um, a Mercedes, right?"**

"Oh God,she did not just say that!"burst from Rose's mouth. "Come on Rose, give her some slack. Just like your into cars and I'm into fashion, Bella is into reading" came from Alice impatiently.

"**Yes," the man said politely while his shorter friend rolled his eyes at my answer. **

Rose looks at everyone trying to show them that she was not the only one thinking it is a disgrace to know so little about cars. Alice just gives her a look.

"**I know. But I was wondering, is that… are you driving a Mercedes **_**Guardian**_**?"**

"No way!" Rosalie says shocked. "That car is not even out yet" she exclaims with envy. Everyone just laughs at her. "What's so special about this car anyway" Emmett asked. "It has..."Rose stop talking and looks at me. "What?" came from Emmett. 'Okay, I have to agree with Alice. This is Bella. Only you would go that far.' Rose though, laughing loudly. Everyone else just looked at her strangely. Not getting the joke.

**The man said the name with reverence. I had a feeling this guy would get along well with Edward Cullen, my… my fiancé **

Everyone burst out laughing excitedly. Esme and Alice clapping hands and jumping up and down. They came over and gave me hugs while I sit still in shock. The guys gives me claps on the back.

"Congratulations son"Carlisle says excited and proud of me. "I knew it! I knew it! I'm always right even if I can't see the future at the moment" says Alice still bouncing excitedly on her seat until Jasper couldn't absorb all the excitement anymore and tries to calm everyone down.

"Well its about time Eddie!"Emmett says while laughing in amusement. " I went back" I say in shock, still not believing it. "I'm going to marry Bella!" I can't help but get emotional. If I could cry, I would be crying my eyes out right now. "This is all I ever wanted" I tell them with reverence. I can't keep the smile that's coming of my face and everyone smiles with me knowing at this moment I couldn't be more happy.

**(there really was no getting around that truth with the wedding just days away). "They aren't supposed to be available in Europe yet," the man went on, "let alone here." **

**While his eyes traced the contours of my car—it didn't look much different from any other Mercedes sedan to me, but what did I know?—I briefly contemplated my issues with words like **_**fiancé**_**, **_**wedding**_**, **_**husband**_**, etc. **

"Bella has issues with weddings?" Esme asked surprised. "Yes" I answered laughing. "Because the whole thing with her parents divorce she's not very big on it" I tell everyone. "I wonder what I did to convince her to get married because she's even more uncomfortable with getting married than excepting gifts."

**I just couldn't put it together in my head.**

**On the one hand, I had been raised to cringe at the very thought of poofy white dresses and bouquets. But more than that, I just couldn't reconcile a staid, respectable, dull concept like **_**husband**_**with my concept of **_**Edward**_**. It was like casting an archangel as an accountant; I couldn't visualize him in any commonplace role. **

"What does she mean?I'm not normal enough to get married" I asked confused. Alice rolled her eyes and looked at me with amusement. " I think she means your to 'out of this world' to do ordinary things humans do."

**Like always, as soon as I started thinking about Edward I was caught up in a dizzy spin of fantasies. **

Emmett looks at me, with a mischievous look an his face while raising his eyebrows up and down. Fortunately he doesn't speak his thoughts out loud.

**The stranger had to clear his throat to get my attention; he was still waiting for an answer about the car's make and model. **

"**I don't know," I told him honestly.**

"**Do you mind if I take a picture with it?"**

**It took me a second to process that. "Really? You want to take a picture with the car?"**

"**Sure—nobody is going to believe me if I don't get proof."**

"**Um. Okay. Fine."**

**I swiftly put away the nozzle and crept into the front seat to hide while the enthusiast dug a huge professional-looking camera out of his backpack. He and his friend took turns posing by the hood, and then they went to take pictures at the back end.**

"**I miss my truck," I whimpered to myself.**

Everyone shake their heads, smiling fondly at her strangeness.

**Very, very convenient—too convenient—that my truck would wheeze its last wheeze just weeks after Edward and I had agreed to our lopsided compromise, one detail of which was that he be allowed to replace my truck when it passed on. Edward swore it was only to be expected; my truck had lived a long, full life and then expired of natural causes. **

We laugh at that. "I guess I know now how I was allowed to buy her a car" I mumbled with excitement. " What did you do with the truck Edward?" Emmett asks me, laughing the loudest.

Still laughing I say " I don't know. I wonder what the compromise was about."

**According to him. And, of course, I had no way to verify his story or to try to raise my truck from the dead on my own. My favorite mechanic—**

"What is that all about? Bella has a favourite mechanic we don't know about?"Jasper asked. Nobody answered. Not sure themselves.

**I stopped that thought cold, refusing to let it come to a conclusion. Instead, I listened to the men's voices outside, muted by the car walls.**

"**. . . went at it with a flamethrower in the online video. Didn't even pucker the paint."**

"**Of course not. You could roll a tank over this baby. Not much of a market for one over here. Designed for Middle East diplomats, arms dealers, and drug lords mostly."**

Everyone looks at me, laughing and shaking their heads. Now knowing why Rose was laughing alone earlier. "Damn Eddie, that is a really over the top gift. Real appropriate for Bella"comes from Emmett while shaking with laughter.

"**Think **_**she's**_**something?" **" Yeh, she's Edward's something" says Alice with amusement. Not looking up from the book. **the short one asked in a softer voice. I ducked my head, cheeks flaming.**

"**Huh," the tall one said. "Maybe. Can't imagine what you'd need missile-proof glass and four thousand pounds of body armor for around here. Must be headed somewhere more hazardous."**

**Body armor. **_**Four thousand pounds**_**of body armor. And **_**missile**_**-proof glass? Nice. What had happened to good old-fashioned bulletproof?**

**Well, at least this made some sense—if you had a twisted sense of humor.**

**It wasn't like I hadn't expected Edward to take advantage of our deal, to weight it on his side so that he could give so much more than he would receive. I'd agreed that he could replace my truck when it needed replacing, not expecting that moment to come quite so soon, of course. When I'd been forced to admit that the truck had become no more than a still-life tribute to classic Chevys on my curb, I knew his idea of a replacement was probably going to embarrass me. Make me the focus of stares and whispers. I'd been right about that part. But even in my darkest imaginings I had not foreseen that he would get me **_**two**_**cars.**

"Two cars" Rose ask with a smile.

**The "before" car and the "after" car, he'd explained when I'd flipped out. **

Both Rose's and my eyes narrowed. Not liking where this is going.

**This was just the "before" car. He'd told me it was a loaner and promised that he was returning it after the wedding. It all had made absolutely no sense to me. Until now. **

**Ha ha. Because I was so fragilely human, so accident-prone, so much a victim to my own dangerous bad luck, apparently I needed a tank-resistant car to keep me safe. Hilarious. I was sure he and his brothers had enjoyed the joke quite a bit behind my back. **

Emmett and Jasper laughed at that. "We probably did torture Eddie about being such a worryward" Emmett says jokingly.

_**Or maybe, just maybe**_**, a small voice whispered in my head, **_**it's not a joke, silly. Maybe he's really that worried about you. This wouldn't be the first time he's gone a little overboard trying to protect you**_**.**

**I sighed. **

**I hadn't seen the "after" car yet. It was hidden under a sheet in the deepest corner of the Cullens' garage. I knew most people would have peeked by now, but I really didn't want to know. **

**Probably no body armor on that car—because I wouldn't need it after the honeymoon. Virtual indestructibility was just one of the many perks I was looking forward to. The best parts about being a Cullen were not expensive cars and impressive credit cards.**

"So I'm going to change her" I say dejectedly. "Let just keep reading before you get moody again and see why" Alice said quickly, noticing my mood change.

"**Hey," the tall man called, cupping his hands to the glass in an effort to peer in. "We're done now. Thanks a lot!"**

"**You're welcome," I called back, and then tensed as I started the engine and eased the pedal—ever so gently—down. . . .**

**No matter how many times I drove down the familiar road home, I still couldn't make the rain-faded flyers fade into the background. Each one of them, stapled to telephone poles and taped to street signs, was like a fresh slap in the face. A well-deserved slap in the face. My mind was sucked back into the thought I'd interrupted so immediately before. I couldn't avoid it on this road. Not with pictures of **_**my favorite mechanic**_**flashing past me at regular intervals.**

**My best friend. My Jacob.**

"I know Jacob. Their best friends now. They barely even spoke when we were still there. They must have gotten closer" I says deep in though. I'm a little worried about the 'my Jacob' close did they get before I decide to give up torturing myself ad go back.

Alice looks unhappy. "She has a new best friend" she says dejectedly. " I think your still her best friend. Maybe she has a guy best friend and a girl as well" Jasper reassure her.

**The ****HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?****posters were not Jacob's father's idea. It had been **_**my**_**father, Charlie, who'd printed up the flyers and spread them all over town. And not just Forks, but Port Angeles and Sequim and Hoquiam and Aberdeen and every other town in the Olympic Peninsula. He'd made sure that all the police stations in the state of Washington had the same flyer hanging on the wall, too. His own station had a whole corkboard dedicated to finding Jacob. A corkboard that was mostly empty, much to his disappointment and frustration. **

"What do you think happened to him?" Esme asks rhetoric, looking worried. "This is Jacob Black, right Edward? From the Quileute tribe"Carlisle asks. " Yes, his Ephraim Black's descendant.

**My dad was disappointed with more than the lack of response. He was most disappointed with Billy, Jacob's father—and Charlie's closest friend. **

**For Billy's not being more involved with the search for his sixteen-year-old "runaway." For Billy's refusing to put up the flyers in La Push, the reservation on the coast that was Jacob's home. For his seeming resigned to Jacob's disappearance, as if there was nothing he could do. For his saying, "Jacob's grown up now. He'll come home if he wants to."**

**And he was frustrated with me, for taking Billy's side. **

Everyone looks confused about why Bella and Jacob's father didn't care that Jacob runaway, especially Bella because she cares about everyone.

**I wouldn't put up posters, either. Because both Billy and I knew where Jacob was, roughly speaking, and we also knew that no one had seen this **_**boy**_**. **

Now everyone really looks confused.

"What do you think this means" Jasper asks. "I have an idea but it can't be possible because they haven't changed in a long time". Comprehension made its way into everyones mind except for Alice and Jasper's. "Remember when we first moved to Forks and I told you about the tribe that can change into werewolves?" Carlisle asks, looking at Jasper and Alice. While nodding they started to understand what was going on. "You think this Jacob boy can turn into a werewolf" Jasper asks to make sure.

"And not only that but Bella knows about it" Emmett says with a smile, looking at my reaction. I didn't want to think about all the dangers Bella got into! "How do you think she found out about it?" Emmett asks, not letting it go. "I think he phased right in front off her" Emmett went on. I couldn't not react to that. Growly loudly I stand up so fast my stair flew back, ready to punch him. "Emmett" Esme exclaimed simultaneously. Emmett just holds his hands up in surrender. Not being able to stop laughing.

'I knew you would react soon enough. Your so easy to rile up Eddie.' Emmett was thinking. "Would you stop calling me Eddie"I say angrily. "Enough" Carlisle says exaggerated. "Lets just keep reading."

**The flyers put the usual big, fat lump in my throat, the usual stinging tears in my eyes, and I was glad Edward was out hunting this Saturday. If Edward saw my reaction, it would only make him feel terrible, too.**

**Of course, there were drawbacks to it being Saturday. As I turned slowly and carefully onto my street, I could see my dad's police cruiser in the driveway of our home. He'd skipped fishing again today. Still sulking about the wedding.**

"Why would he be sad about the wedding" Esme asks unhappily. "Well she is only eighteen. Nowadays, you want to see them go to college and get a job before thinking about marriage"Carlisle answered her.

"Also, maybe the fact that you left Bella. Charlie wouldn't be happy about that" says Rose looking at me with one eyebrow raised. I cringe at the idea of how mad Charlie is going to be.

**So I wouldn't be able to use the phone inside. But I **_**had**_**to call. . . .**

**I parked on the curb behind the Chevy sculpture and pulled the cell phone Edward had given me for emergencies out of the glove compartment. **

Emmett smiled, looking at me. "Always the worryward". I don't acknowledge him. Still muffed about his teasing from earlier.

**I dialed, keeping my finger on the "end" button as the phone rang. Just in case.**

"**Hello?" Seth Clearwater answered, and I sighed in relief. I was way too chicken to speak to his older sister, Leah. The phrase "bite my head off" was not entirely a figure of speech when it came to Leah.**

"Yeah, I think your right Carlisle. The wolves are back" I say.

"**Hey, Seth, it's Bella."**

"**Oh, hiya, Bella! How are you?"**

**Choked up. Desperate for reassurance. "Fine."**

"**Calling for an update?"**

"**You're psychic."**

"**Not hardly. I'm no Alice—you're just predictable," he joked. **

Shocked,everyone looks at each other. "How does he know I'm psychic?" asks Alice. Looking uncomfortable with the enemy knowing so much about her.

Not wanting to miss anything they all sat forward.

**Among the Quileute pack down at La Push, only Seth was comfortable even mentioning the Cullens by name, let alone joking about things like my nearly omniscient sister-in-law-to-be.**

"He seems cool" Emmett says with a smile. With Jasper and I nodding.

"**I know I am." I hesitated for a minute. "How is he?"**

**Seth sighed. "Same as ever. He won't talk, though we know he hears us. He's trying not to think **_**human**_**, you know. Just going with his instincts."**

"That has to be an interesting to observe" Carlisle says. Always trying to discover more.

"**Do you know where he is now?"**

"**Somewhere in northern Canada. I can't tell you which province. He doesn't pay much attention to state lines."**

"**Any hint that he might . . ."**

"**He's not coming home, Bella. Sorry."**

"What do you think happened between them"Alice asks.

**I swallowed. "S'okay, Seth. I knew before I asked. I just can't help wishing."**

"**Yeah. We all feel the same way."**

"**Thanks for putting up with me, Seth. I know the others must give you a hard time."**

"**They're not your hugest fans," he agreed cheerfully. "Kind of lame, I think. Jacob made his choices, you made yours. Jake doesn't like their attitude about it. 'Course, he isn't super thrilled that you're checking up on him, either."**

"Liking this kid even more" says Emmett. Everyone looksat him. "What?" lifting his shoulders. "He is open-minded."

**I gasped. "I thought he wasn't talking to you?"**

"**He can't hide everything from us, hard as he's trying."**

**So Jacob knew I was worried. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Well, at least he knew I hadn't skipped off into the sunset and forgotten him completely. He might have imagined me capable of that.**

"**I guess I'll see you at the… wedding," I said, forcing the word out through my teeth.**

Some of our eyes widen. "His coming to your wedding?" Rose asks,wringling her nose. "Its going to stink up the place."

Esme smiled happily. "So the wedding will be soon."

"**Yeah, me and my mom will be there. It was cool of you to ask us."**

**I smiled at the enthusiasm in his voice. Though inviting the Clearwaters had been Edward's idea, I was glad he'd thought of it. **

"Your idea? I though maybe Bella got real close to them and invited them" says Carlisle. A little shock, but mostly happy at the possibility of them becoming allies if friends was to much to ask. "I think something must have happen between us that create this friendship" I answered.

There is a lot of the pieces we don't know. "

I think the book didn't start until maybe months after we went back to Forks."

**Having Seth there would be nice—a link, however tenuous, to my missing best man. "It wouldn't be the same without you."**

"**Tell Edward I said hi, 'kay?"**

"**Sure thing." **

**I shook my head. The friendship that had sprung up between Edward and Seth was something that still boggled my mind. It was proof, though, that things didn't have to be this way. That vampires and werewolves could get along just fine, thank you very much, if they were of a mind to. **

Carlisle and I smiled at each other.

**Not everybody liked this idea.**

"**Ah," Seth said, his voice cracking up an octave. "Er, Leah's home."**

"**Oh! Bye!" **

**The phone went dead. I left it on the seat and prepared myself mentally to go inside the house, where Charlie would be waiting.**

**My poor dad had so much to deal with right now. Jacob-the-runaway was just **_**one**_**of the straws on his overburdened back. He was almost as worried about me, his barely-a-legal-adult daughter who was about to become a Mrs. in just a few days' time.**

Alice and Esme started bouncing and smiling when they heard the few days until the wedding part.

**I walked slowly through the light rain, remembering the night we'd told him. . . .**

"Oh! This is going to be good, wouldn't want to miss this for anything" Emmett says excitingly. Jasper just laughed, but also curious.

**As the sound of Charlie's cruiser announced his return, the ring suddenly weighed a hundred pounds on my finger. I wanted to shove my left hand in a pocket, or maybe sit on it, but Edward's cool, firm grasp kept it front and center.**

"**Stop fidgeting, Bella. Please try to remember that you're not confessing to a murder here."**

"**Easy for you to say."**

**I listened to the ominous sound of my father's boots clomping up the sidewalk. The key rattled in the already open door. The sound reminded me of that part of the horror movie when the victim realizes she's forgotten to lock her deadbolt. **

Everyone laughed at how much she worries and overreacting.

"**Calm down, Bella," Edward whispered, listening to the acceleration of my heart.**

**The door slammed against the wall, and I flinched like I'd been Tasered.**

"**Hey, Charlie," Edward called, entirely relaxed. **

"**No!" I protested under my breath.**

"**What?" Edward whispered back.**

"**Wait till he hangs his gun up!"**

Emmett almost falls out of his seat with how much he couldn't stop shaking with laughter. "That would be awesome to see. What you have done Eddie?" Emmett asks me.

**Edward chuckled and ran his free hand through his tousled bronze hair.**

"You act like your also a bit nervous Edward" Esme says smiling lovingly at me. Shecouldn't contain her happiness for me. I smiled back at her. '"I probably was really scared what Charlie was going to do."

**Charlie came around the corner, still in his uniform, still armed, and tried not to make a face when he spied us sitting together on the loveseat. Lately, he'd been putting forth a lot of effort to like Edward more. Of course, this revelation was sure to end that effort immediately.**

"**Hey, kids. What's up?"**

"**We'd like to talk to you," Edward said, so serene. "We have some good news."**

**Charlie's expression went from strained friendliness to black suspicion in a second.**

Emmett laughed at this. "His on to you Eddie boy."

"**Good news?" Charlie growled, looking straight at me.**

"**Have a seat, Dad."**

**He raised one eyebrow, stared at me for five seconds, then stomped to the recliner and sat down on the very edge, his back ramrod straight. **

"**Don't get worked up, Dad," I said after a moment of loaded silence. "Everything's okay."**

Carlisle couldn't help smiling. " I don't think that's going to help him relax."

**Edward grimaced, and I knew it was in objection to the word **_**okay.**_**He probably would have used something more like **_**wonderful**_**or **_**perfect**_**or **_**glorious.**_

"**Sure it is, Bella, sure it is. If everything is so great, then why are you sweating bullets?"**

"**I'm not sweating," I lied. **

Alice and Edward laughed knowing full well that Bella really couldn't lie to save her life.

**I leaned away from his fierce scowl, cringing into Edward, and instinctively wiped the back of my right hand across my forehead to remove the evidence.**

"**You're pregnant!" Charlie exploded. "You're pregnant, aren't you?" **

"Whoa" Emmett says while he and Jasper laugh their asses off. "Eddie having sex before marriage! The world is coming down on us" Emmett says dramatically. We just smile at their ridiculousness

while I am really sad that I won't be able to give her that.

**Though the question was clearly meant for me, he was glaring at Edward now, and I could have sworn I saw his hand twitch toward the gun.**

"Do it Charlie!" Emmett exclaimed laughing. Esme looked at him reprovingly. And we all smile when he stops immediately.

"**No! Of course I'm not!" I wanted to elbow Edward in the ribs, but I knew that move would only give me a bruise. I'd **_**told**_**Edward that people would immediately jump to this conclusion! What other possible reason would sane people have for getting married at eighteen? (His answer then had made me roll my eyes. **_**Love**_**. Right.)**

**Charlie's glower lightened a shade. It was usually pretty clear on my face when I was telling the truth, and he believed me now. "Oh. Sorry."**

"**Apology accepted."**

**There was a long pause. After a moment, I realized everyone was waiting for **_**me**_**to say something. I looked up at Edward, panic-stricken. There was no way I was going to get the words out.**

Rosalie smiled. "Help the girl out Edward." I look at her. A little shock that she's helping Bella out. Seeing my shocked look she just lifts her shoulder. I can see in her thoughts me sitting in my room for hours,not doing any thing.' Its good to see you happy for ones.' she thought. "Thank you" I whispered.

**He smiled at me and then squared his shoulders and turned to my father. **

"**Charlie, I realize that I've gone about this out of order. Traditionally, I should have asked you first. I mean no disrespect, but since Bella has already said yes and I don't want to diminish her choice in the matter, instead of asking you for her hand, I'm asking you for your blessing. We're getting married, Charlie. I love her more than anything in the world, more than my own life, and—by some miracle—she loves me that way, too. Will you give us your blessing?"**

"Aww" Esme and Alice says together. "That was really beautiful Edward" Esme says proudly. I ducked my head in embarrasement.

**He sounded so sure, so calm. For just an instant, listening to the absolute confidence in his voice, I experienced a rare moment of insight. I could see, fleetingly, the way the world looked to him. For the length of one heartbeat, this news made perfect sense.**

I had to smile at that.

**And then I caught sight of the expression on Charlie's face, his eyes now locked on the ring. **

"**Oh, here it comes. Charlie is gonna blow a casket" Emmett says entertained.**

**I held my breath while his skin changed colors—fair to red, red to purple, purple to blue. **

"Damn his turning into a rainbow!"Emmett says, expecting exactly that.

"You'll have to make sure he doesn't get a heardattack Edward" says Carlisle lightly, not really worried.

**I started to get up—I'm not sure what I planned to do; maybe use the Heimlich maneuver to make sure he wasn't choking—but Edward squeezed my hand and murmured "Give him a minute" so low that only I could hear.**

**The silence was much longer this time. Then, gradually, shade by shade, Charlie's color returned to normal. His lips pursed, and his eyebrows furrowed; I recognized his "deep in thought" expression. He studied the two of us for a long moment, and I felt Edward relax at my side. **

"**Guess I'm not that surprised," Charlie grumbled. "Knew I'd have to deal with something like this soon enough."**

"He knows you guys love each other and are meant to be together" Esme says.

**I exhaled.**

"**You sure about this?" Charlie demanded, glaring at me.**

"**I'm one hundred percent sure about Edward," I told him without missing a beat. **

"**Getting married, though? What's the rush?" He eyed me suspiciously again.**

**The rush was due to the fact that I was getting closer to nineteen every stinking day, while Edward stayed frozen in all his seventeen-year-old perfection, as he had for over ninety years. Not that this fact necessitated **_**marriage**_**in my book, but the wedding was required due to the delicate and tangled compromise Edward and I had made to finally get to this point, the brink of my transformation from mortal to immortal.**

"She's really worried about the age thing" Alice just shakes her head at her friends worries.

**These weren't things I could explain to Charlie.**

"**We're going away to Dartmouth together in the fall, Charlie," Edward reminded him. "I'd like to do that, well, the right way. It's how I was raised." He shrugged. **

**He wasn't exaggerating; they'd been big on old-fashioned morals during World War I.**

Everyone laughed at that. "Don't we know it. With virgin boy being over a hundred and still hasn't gotten some" Emmett couldn't help saying.

"Emmett!" Esme shouted shocked that he would say it while the others tried to hide their smiles so she wouldn't see.

**Charlie's mouth twisted to the side. Looking for an angle to argue from. But what could he say? **_**I'd prefer you live in sin first?**_**He was a dad; his hands were tied.**

"Nice move" came from Jasper. "There is no way to argue against that."

"**Knew this was coming," he muttered to himself, frowning. Then, suddenly, his face went perfectly smooth and blank.**

"**Dad?" I asked anxiously. I glanced at Edward, but I couldn't read his face, either, as he watched Charlie.**

"What did I miss" Emmett asks, not wanting to miss anything good.

"**Ha!" Charlie exploded. I jumped in my seat. "Ha, ha, ha!"**

**I stared incredulously as Charlie doubled over in laughter; his whole body shook with it.**

**I looked at Edward for a translation, but Edward had his lips pressed tightly together, like he was trying to hold back laughter himself.**

"**Okay, fine," Charlie choked out. "Get married." Another roll of laughter shook through him. "But . . ." **

"**But what?" I demanded.**

"**But **_**you**_**have to tell your mom! I'm not saying one word to Renée! That's all yours!" He busted into loud guffaws.**

Carlisle smiled. "Renee is probably also not good with young marriages and is probably the one that scared Bella of getting married to young."

**I paused with my hand on the doorknob, smiling. Sure, at the time, Charlie's words had terrified me. The ultimate doom: telling Renée. Early marriage was higher up on her blacklist than boiling live puppies.**

**Who could have foreseen her response? Not me. Certainly not Charlie. Maybe Alice, but I hadn't thought to ask her.**

"She should have asked."

"**Well, Bella," Renée had said after I'd choked and stuttered out the impossible words: **_**Mom, I'm marrying Edward**_**. "I'm a little miffed that you waited so long to tell me. Plane tickets only get more expensive. Oooh," she'd fretted. "Do you think Phil's cast will be off by then? It will spoil the pictures if he's not in a tux—"**

We all couldn't help laughing. "Almost worries as much as you. For no reason" says Emmett.

"**Back up a second, Mom." I'd gasped. "What do you mean, waited so long? I just got en-en . . ."—I'd been unable to force out the word **_**engaged**_**—"****things settled, you know, today."**

"**Today? Really? That **_**is**_**a surprise. I assumed . . ."**

"**What did you assume? **_**When**_**did you assume?"**

"**Well, when you came to visit me in April, it looked like things were pretty much sewn up, if you know what I mean. You're not very hard to read, sweetie. But I didn't say anything because I knew it wouldn't do any good. You're exactly like Charlie." She'd sighed, resigned. "Once you make up your mind, there is no reasoning with you. Of course, exactly like Charlie, you stick by your decisions, too." **

**And then she'd said the last thing that I'd ever expected to hear from my mother.**

"**You're not making my mistakes, Bella. You sound like you're scared silly, and I'm guessing it's because you're afraid of **_**me**_**." She'd giggled. "Of what I'm going to think. And I know I've said a lot of things about marriage and stupidity—and I'm not taking them back—but you need to realize that those things specifically applied to **_**me**_**. You're a completely different person than I am. You make your own kinds of mistakes, and I'm sure you'll have your share of regrets in life. But commitment was never your problem, sweetie. You have a better chance of making this work than most forty-year-olds I know." Renée had laughed again. "My little middle-aged child. Luckily, you seem to have found another old soul."**

Everyone smiled at that while Carilse puts his hand on my shoulder.

"**You're not… mad? You don't think I'm making a humongous mistake?"**

"**Well, sure, I wish you'd wait a few more years. I mean, do I look old enough to be a mother-in-law to you? Don't answer that. But this isn't about me. This is about you. Are you happy?"**

"**I don't know. I'm having an out-of-body experience right now."**

**Renée had chuckled. "Does he make you happy, Bella?"**

"**Yes, but—"**

"**Are you ever going to want anyone else?"**

"**No, but—"**

"**But what?"**

"**But aren't you going to say that I sound exactly like every other infatuated teenager since the dawn of time?"**

"**You've never been a teenager, sweetie. You know what's best for **_**you**_**."**

**For the last few weeks, Renée had unexpectedly immersed herself in wedding plans. She'd spent hours every day on the phone with Edward's mother, Esme—no worries about the in-laws getting along. Renée **_**adored**_**Esme, but then, I doubted anyone could help responding that way to my lovable almost-mother-in-law. **

No one could disagree with that. Esme smiled and if it was possible would be blushing right now.

**It let me right off the hook. Edward's family and my family were taking care of the nuptials together without my having to do or know or think too hard about any of it.**

**Charlie was furious, of course, but the sweet part was that he wasn't furious at **_**me**_**. Renée was the traitor. He'd counted on her to play the heavy. What could he do now, when his ultimate threat—telling Mom—had turned out to be utterly empty? He had nothing, and he knew it. So he moped around the house, muttering things about not being able to trust anyone in this world. . . .**

"His plan wasn't as full proof as he though" Carlisle says, laughing.

"**Dad?" I called as I pushed open the front door. "I'm home."**

"**Hold on, Bells, stay right there."**

"**Huh?" I asked, pausing automatically.**

"**Gimme a second. Ouch, you got me, Alice."**

**Alice? **

"**Sorry, Charlie," Alice's trilling voice responded. "How's that?"**

"**I'm bleeding on it."**

"**You're fine. Didn't break the skin—trust me."**

"**What's going on?" I demanded, hesitating in the doorway.**

"**Thirty seconds, please, Bella," Alice told me. "Your patience will be rewarded."**

"**Humph," Charlie added.**

**I tapped my foot, counting each beat. Before I got to thirty, Alice said, "Okay, Bella, come in!"**

**Moving with caution, I rounded the little corner into our living room.**

"**Oh," I huffed. "Aw. Dad. Don't you look—"**

"**Silly?" Charlie interrupted.**

"**I was thinking more like **_**debonair.**_**"**

**Charlie blushed. Alice took his elbow and tugged him around into a slow spin to showcase the pale gray tux. **

Alice dropped the book in her excitement. "She's putting me incharge of the clothes." Jasper laughed while hugging her. "There is no one that would be better at it than you."

"**Now cut that out, Alice. I look like an idiot."**

"**No one dressed by me **_**ever**_**looks like an idiot."**

"Hmm, wonder where Bella got that from" Alice says with a sigh. Knowing it's going to take a lot of convincing to make Bella do anything.

"**She's right, Dad. You look fabulous! What's the occasion?" **

"She did not just say that! Please tell me she was making some lame joke" Alice asks in distress while Emmett laugh.

**Alice rolled her eyes. "It's the final check on the fit. For both of you."**

**I peeled my gaze off the unusually elegant Charlie for the first time and saw the dreaded white garment bag laid carefully across the sofa.**

"**Aaah."**

"**Go to your happy place, Bella. It won't take long."**

**I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes. Keeping them shut, I stumbled my way up the stairs to my room. I stripped down to my underwear and held my arms straight out.**

"**You'd think I was shoving bamboo splinters under your nails," Alice muttered to herself as she followed me in.**

**I paid no attention to her. I was in my happy place.**

**In my happy place, the whole wedding mess was over and done. Behind me. Already repressed and forgotten.**

**We were alone, just Edward and me. The setting was fuzzy and constantly in flux—it morphed from misty forest to cloud-covered city to arctic night—because Edward was keeping the location of our honeymoon a secret to surprise me. But I wasn't especially concerned about the **_**where**_**part. **

**Edward and I were together, and I'd fulfilled my side of our compromise perfectly. I'd married was the big one. But I'd also accepted all his outrageous gifts and was registered, however futilely, to attend Dartmouth College in the fall. Now it was his turn.**

**Before he turned me into a vampire—his big compromise—he had one other stipulation to make good on.**

"Oh, this doesn't sound good. For Bella to except all that, what I'm going to have to do will definitely be in my not to do list" I say to no one in particular.

**Edward had an obsessive sort of concern over the human things that I would be giving up, the experiences he didn't want me to miss. Most of them—like the prom, for example—seemed silly to me. There was only one human experience I worried about missing. Of course it would be the one he wished I would forget completely.**

**Here was the thing, though. I knew a little about what I was going to be like when I wasn't human anymore. I'd seen newborn vampires firsthand, and I'd heard all my family-to-be's stories about those wild early days. **

"She's met a newborn!" I ask shocked. Looking at them for answers I know they couldn't give me. Emmett just smiled. "Never a dull moment with Bella around. We should really get bac**k **earlier."

**For several years, my biggest personality trait was going to be **_**thirsty.**_**It would take some time before I could be **_**me**_**again. And even when I was in control of myself, I would never feel exactly the way I felt now. **

**Human… and passionately in love. **

**I wanted the complete experience before I traded in my warm, breakable, pheromone-riddled body for something beautiful, strong… and unknown. I wanted a **_**real **_**honeymoon with Edward. And, despite the danger he feared this would put me in, he'd agreed to try.**

"Does she mean what I think see means" I whispered. Jasper and Emmett couldn't stop laughing when they see the look at my face.

I can hear the concern in Carlisle thoughts. "We'll worry about that when the time comes, but I have faith in you Son. You have remarkable control even if you don't believe that."

**I was only vaguely aware of Alice and the slip and slide of satin over my skin. I didn't care, for the moment, that the whole town was talking about me. I didn't think about the spectacle I would have to star in much too soon. I didn't worry about tripping on my train or giggling at the wrong moment or being too young or the staring audience or even the empty seat where my best friend should be.**

**I was with Edward in my happy place.**

I had to smile at that. I'll make sure everything works out okay. I promise myself.


	3. Chapter 3

2\. LONG NIGHT

**Emmett whistle. "Long night, huh? What did you do Eddie? Don't tell me you already did it?" came from Emmett with a big smile on his face.**

"I miss you already."

"I don't need to leave. I can stay. . . ."

"**They grow up so fast" Emmett says dramatically while brushing away imaginary tears away. "Couldn't be more proud."**

"Mmm."

It was quiet for a long moment, just the thud of my heart hammering, the broken rhythm of our ragged breathing, and the whisper of our lips moving in synchronization.

**I knew if I could, my face would be bright red right now. I looked down not wanting to see the looks on their faces but I heard the surprise in their thoughts.**

**Of cause Emmett was laughing. "Way to go Bro! Was teasing before, but didn't know you had it in you." Rose give Emmett a look but I didn't miss the smirk when she turned her face away.**

"**I have to say I'm surprise. I though you were always going to wait until you were married" Alice couldn't help asking. **

" **Can we not talk about this. We're only kissing. Your making to much out of this." **

**The only emotion that was strange came from Jasper. He was envious. I couldn't help but give him a confused look because his trying not to think about it. He must have felt my confusion because he looked up. "****I don't think I would have been able to do that even if it was Alice that was human****" he thinks with resignation. Always thinking of himself as the weaker of all of us. I could only give him a weak smile and feeling of denial because I didn't want to say anything out loud in front of everyone.**

Sometimes it was so easy to forget that I was kissing a vampire. Not because he seemed ordinary or human—I could never for a second forget that I was holding someone more angel than man in my arms—but because he made it seem like nothing at all to have his lips against my lips, my face, my throat. He claimed he was long past the temptation my blood used to be for him, that the idea of losing me had cured him of any desire for it. But I knew the smell of my blood still caused him pain—still burned his throat like he was inhaling flames.

I opened my eyes and found his open, too, staring at my face. It made no sense when he looked at me that way. Like I was the prize rather than the outrageously lucky winner.

**I had to smile wistfully at that. She would probably never see herself clearly. The way I see her. That she will always be my everything. I wont stop showing her and maybe one day she'll see.**

Our gazes locked for a moment; his golden eyes were so deep that I imagined I could see all the way into his soul. It seemed silly that this fact—the existence of his soul—had ever been in question, even if he _was_ a vampire. He had the most beautiful soul, more beautiful than his brilliant mind or his incomparable face or his glorious body.

**Carlisle smiled when he sees me shake my head. He doesn't say anything, just gives me a look that say 'I told you so'. It's probably not necessary to say anything because we had this talk numerous times and reached an impasse. **

He looked back at me as if he could see my soul, too, and as if he liked what he saw.

**What's not to like. She was kind, generous, beautifully and always thinking about others before herself.**

He couldn't see into my mind, though, the way he saw into everyone else's. Who knew why—some strange glitch in my brain that made it immune to all the extraordinary and frightening things some immortals could do. (Only my mind was immune; my body was still subject to vampires with abilities that worked in ways other than Edward's.)secret.

"**I'm still shocked about that. What do you think is the cause of it" Carlisle asks. "I'm not sure" I answered. Jasper looked thoughtful " it can't be because no talent affects her because mine as well as Alice's talent works on her. So it has to be something else. So we have to ask ourself why does ours work but your doesn't?"**

"**That's a good question, Jasper" came from Carlisle with a smile.**

"**Can it be that because she is your mate? Emmett ask. For once serious. "No it can't be because of that. Than Alice's power shouldn't work on Jasper" Rosalie joint in.**

" **Lets keep reading. We have to little information to keep speculating" Alice says. " Maybe it is something in her brain. That's probably also why she so weird and doesn't mind hanging out with vampires" Emmett says jokingly.**

It was just too embarrassing to consider the alternative.

I pulled his face to mine again.

"Definitely staying," he murmured a moment later.

"No, no. It's your bachelor party. You have to go."

"**What! No, no, no, Bro. You can not skip out on that. It's your first" Emmett says with a look of shock on his face that almost looks genuine even though his thoughts contradict him.**

I said the words, but the fingers of my right hand locked into his bronze hair, my left pressed tighter against the small of his back. His cool hands stroked my face.

"Bachelor parties are designed for those who are sad to see the passing of their single days. I couldn't be more eager to have mine behind me. So there's really no point."

**Emmett roll his eyes while Jasper chuckles. That just sound so Edward.**

"True." I breathed against the winter-cold skin of his throat.

This was pretty close to my happy place. Charlie slept obliviously in his room, which was almost as good as being alone. We were curled up on my small bed, intertwined as much as it was possible, considering the thick afghan I was swathed in like a cocoon. I hated the necessity of the blanket, but it sort of ruined the romance when my teeth started chattering. Charlie would notice if I turned the heat on in August. . . .

**Jasper and Emmett was full out laughing now. "Not much scandalous about that Eddie. If Bella is covered from head to toe.**

At least, if _I_ had to be bundled up, Edward's shirt was on the floor. I never got over the shock of how perfect his body was—white, cool, and polished as marble. I ran my hand down his stone chest now, tracing across the flat planes of his stomach, just marveling. A light shudder rippled through him, and his mouth found mine again. Carefully, I let the tip of my tongue press against his glass-smooth lip, and he sighed. His sweet breath washed—cold and delicious—over my face.

**From Esme's thoughts I could hear she is almost as uncomfortable about this as I was. She wasn't use to hear about things like this from me. Emmett yes but not me.**

He started to pull away—that was his automatic response whenever he decided things had gone too far, his reflex reaction whenever he most wanted to keep going. Edward had spent most of his life rejecting any kind of physical gratification. I knew it was terrifying to him trying to change those habits now.

"Wait," I said, gripping his shoulders and hugging myself close to him. I kicked one leg free and wrapped it around his waist. "Practice makes perfect.".

**Emmett gives me a dimpled smile. She's right you know bro. Practice do make perfect and you're gonna need all the help you can get."**

**Jasper couldn't help laughing even if he could feel the embarrassment rolling off me. Rosalie gives Emmett a smack on the back of his head while rolling her eyes at his antics. Being Emmett, he just laughs, not even noticing the smack. Probably use to them by now.**

He chuckled. "Well, we should be fairly close to perfection by this point, then, shouldn't we? Have you slept at all in the last month?"

**Alice and Emmett laugh at that. I couldn't help laughing also. "That what I'm talking about Eddie."**

"But this is the dress rehearsal," I reminded him, "and we've only practiced certain scenes. It's no time for playing safe."

I thought he would laugh, but he didn't answer, and his body was motionless with sudden stress. The gold in his eyes seemed to harden from a liquid to a solid.

I thought over my words, realized what he would have heard in them.

"Bella…," he whispered.

"Don't start this again," I said. "A deal's a deal."

"**Oh Edward don't get moody again" Alice says.**

"I don't know. It's too hard to concentrate when you're with me like this. I—I can't think straight. I won't be able to control myself. You'll get hurt."

"**I really don't think I'd****be able to do it. How did I come to make a promise like that?Knowing it will put her in danger?" I ask in confusion. Not really expecting an answer.**

" **Maybe you just finally wanted to get some bro. It's understandable. It's been more than one hundred years" came from the joking Emmett. "Can't you be serious for once" I ask him frustrated. He shakes his head with a smirk on his lips. "If I take everything as serious as you do, I'd be just as stiff as you Eddie. There should only be one of you in the world."**

" **It's probably something Bella wanted. I can't say no to Alice when she really wants something. It looks like this is something Bella really wanted. Maybe you couldn't say no" Jasper answered, ignoring Emmett.**

**Emmett was laughing now. Pointing a finger at Jasper " you do realize what you just said, right? Your saying Bella wanted to do Eddie over there so badly, she'd die to get some."**

" **Emmett!" Esme shouted. Looking at him disapprovingly. "That's just about enough from you."**

"I'll be fine."

"Bella . . ."

"Shh!" I pressed my lips to his to stop his panic attack. I'd heard it before. He wasn't getting out of this deal. Not after insisting I marry him first.

He kissed me back for a moment, but I could tell he wasn't as into it as before. Worrying, always worrying. How different it would be when he didn't need to worry about me anymore. What would he do with all his free time? He'd have to get a new hobby.

"How are your feet?" he asked.

Knowing he didn't mean that literally, I answered, "Toasty warm."

"Really? No second thoughts? It's not too late to change your mind."

"Are you trying to ditch me?"

He chuckled. "Just making sure. I don't want you to do anything you're not sure about."

"I'm sure about you. The rest I can live through."

**I caught Esme's eyes when I look up and we smiled at each other. ****" ****I'm so happy for you Edward. You finally find you perfect someone to make you as happy as of us are"****she thinks.**

He hesitated, and I wondered if I'd put my foot in my mouth again.

"Can you?" he asked quietly. "I don't mean the wedding—which I am positive you will survive despite your qualms—but afterward… what about Renée, what about Charlie?"

I sighed. "I'll miss them." Worse, that they would miss me, but I didn't want to give him any fuel.

"Angela and Ben and Jessica and Mike."

"I'll miss my friends, too." I smiled in the darkness. "Especially Mike. Oh, Mike! How will I go on?"

**"****Ha! That's something to think about. Do you think Bella will give Mike a chance now that your gone" Emmett asks, making a funny face. I couldn't help the growl that came involuntary, knowing that's the reaction Emmett is looking for.**

" **Emmett if yo're are going to keep teasing your brother and interrupting every time, I'm going to kick you out of the house and you won't be able to come back until we finish" Esme threaten. **

"**Oh mom, you can't do that to me. I'm just lighting Eddie's mood because without me he'll get all moody again" he whined like a five year old. **

**Everyone just gives him disbelieving looks. I could hear Rosalie's thought were align with mine, while Alice shuttered at the though of Bella with Mike. Not that we want Bella with Mike, but with someone worthy of her and of cause human. As much as I don't want to see her with anyone but me, I think I'd be able to live with the fact that she can have everything I always wanted for her. I know that's what Rose wants****more than anything in the world. She'd probably make a deal with the devil if she can be human and experience everything with Emmett.**

He growled.

I laughed but then was serious. "Edward, we've been through this and through this. I know it will be hard, but this is what I want. I want you, and I want you forever. One lifetime is simply not enough for me."

" **You have to let her make up her own mind, son. I know you're worried that she's to young and don't really know what she's giving up and a few years later she'll resent this life and probably you also, but you have to have faith in her" Carlisle says trying to reassure me.**

"Frozen forever at eighteen," he whispered.

"Every woman's dream come true," I teased.

"Never changing… never moving forward."

"What does that mean?"

He answered slowly. "Do you remember when we told Charlie we were getting married? And he thought you were… pregnant?"

"And he thought about shooting you," I guessed with a laugh. "Admit it—for one second, he honestly considered it."

He didn't answer.

"What, Edward?"

"I just wish… well, I wish that he'd been right."

**I put my head down. A pain I've become use to slice through me. I know that will be one of my biggest regrets. How I wish I can give her that. "I know how feel bro, but some things we can control. I want to give that to Rose too" Emmett though, giving me a sad smile when I look up to him with some surprise. He never though about this part of his relationship with Rosalie.**

"Gah," I gasped.

"More that there was some way he _could_ have been. That we had that kind of potential. I _hate_ taking that away from you, too."

It took me a minute. "I know what I'm doing."

"How could you know that, Bella? Look at my mother, look at my sister. It's not as easy a sacrifice as you imagine."

"Esme and Rosalie get by just fine. If it's a problem later, we can do what Esme did—we'll adopt."

He sighed, and then his voice was fierce. "It's not _right_! I don't want you to have to make sacrifices for me. I want to give you things, not take things away from you. I don't want to steal your future. If I were human—"

I put my hand over his lips. "_You_ are my future. Now stop. No moping, or I'm calling your brothers to come and get you. Maybe you _need_ a bachelor party."

" **She's right you are to serious about this. How did you get from making out to this depressing conversation?" Alice asks giving me a look.**

"I'm sorry. I am moping, aren't I? Must be the nerves."

"Are _your_ feet cold?"

**Emmett laughed. "Always."**

"Not in that sense. I've been waiting a century to marry you, Miss Swan. The wedding ceremony is the one thing I can't wait—" He broke off mid-thought. "Oh, for the love of all that's holy!"

"What's wrong?"

He gritted his teeth. "You don't have to call my brothers. Apparently Emmett and Jasper are not going to let me bow out tonight."

" **I knew I wouldn't disappoint myself" says Emmett with a proud just shake his head.**

I clutched him closer for one second and then released him. I didn't have a prayer of winning a tug-of-war with Emmett. "Have fun."

**The guys couldn't help laughing at the mental picture of Bella and Emmett with Edward in the middle.**

"**That won't be fair. I guess we'll have to wait until she's changed. As a newborn you don't stand a chance Brother" Jasper says with a excited smile like he couldn't wait to see it.**

There was a squeal against the window—someone deliberately scraping their steel nails across the glass to make a horrible, cover-your-ears, goose-bumps-down-your-spine noise. I shuddered.

"**Emmett" I sigh at the idiot. "Hey, it doesn't mean its me"came from Emmett with a hurt look on his face. "Just keep reading" I say not answering him.**

"If you don't send Edward out," Emmett—still invisible in the night—hissed menacingly, "we're coming in after him!"

" **Okay it is me."**

"Go," I laughed. "_Before_ they break my house."

Edward rolled his eyes, but he got to his feet in one fluid movement and had his shirt back on in another. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"Get to sleep. You've got a big day tomorrow."

"Thanks! That's sure to help me wind down."

"I'll meet you at the altar."

"I'll be the one in white." I smiled at how perfectly blasé I sounded.

**Esme and Alice have big smile on their faces. "Oh, I can't wait for the wedding" Alice shouted. Bouncing on her seat again.**

He chuckled, said, "Very convincing," and then suddenly sank into a crouch, his muscles coiled like a spring. He vanished—launching himself out my window too swiftly for my eyes to follow.

Outside, there was a muted thud, and I heard Emmett curse.

"You'd better not make him late," I murmured, knowing they could hear.

And then Jasper's face was peering in my window, his honey hair silver in the weak moonlight that worked through the clouds.

"Don't worry, Bella. We'll get him home in plenty of time."

I was suddenly very calm, and my qualms all seemed unimportant. Jasper was, in his own way, just as talented as Alice with her uncannily accurate predictions. Jasper's medium was moods rather than the future, and it was impossible to resist feeling the way he wanted you to feel.

I sat up awkwardly, still tangled in my blanket. "Jasper? What do vampires do for bachelor parties? You're not taking him to a strip club, are you?"

"Don't tell her anything!" Emmett growled from below. There was another thud, and Edward laughed quietly.

**The guys laugh. "There is so many possibilities. I have to start planning now already" Emmett murmured, deep in though.**

"Relax," Jasper told me—and I did. "We Cullens have our own version. Just a few mountain lions, a couple of grizzly bears. Pretty much an ordinary night out."

"**That is so predictable. That's we always do for when we remarry. This is Eddie's first time. There's should be a first in everything for him. Don't you think we should go to Vegas this time?" Emmett asks looking at Jasper to see his reaction.**

"**You have to be kidding. Us with all does humans" I answer for Jasper. " You're marrying****a human, so you should have all the experiences at a human bachelor party" Emmett says practically like that argument makes sense.**

I wondered if I would ever be able to sound so cavalier about the "vegetarian" vampire diet.

"Thanks, Jasper."

He winked and dropped from sight.

It was completely silent outside. Charlie's muffled snores droned through the walls.

I lay back against my pillow, sleepy now. I stared at the walls of my little room, bleached pale in the moonlight, from under heavy lids.

My last night in my room. My last night as Isabella Swan. Tomorrow night, I would be Bella Cullen.

**I love the way that sounds. Wow, this is really happening. Still feels surreal.**

Though the whole marriage ordeal was a thorn in my side, I had to admit that I liked the sound of that.

I let my mind wander idly for a moment, expecting sleep to take me. But, after a few minutes, I found myself more alert, anxiety creeping back into my stomach, twisting it into uncomfortable positions. The bed seemed too soft, too warm without Edward in it. Jasper was far away, and all the peaceful, relaxed feelings were gone with him.

"**Yep, with you there little sister. Very inconvenient Emmett says with a mocking smile.**

It was going to be a very long day tomorrow.

I was aware that most of my fears were stupid—I just had to get over myself. Attention was an inevitable part of life. I couldn't always blend in with the scenery. However, I did have a few specific worries that were completely valid.

"**Naturally" I say smiling.**

First there was the wedding dress's train. Alice clearly had let her artistic sense overpower practicalities on that one. Maneuvering the Cullens' staircase in heels and a train sounded impossible. I should have practiced.

**Everybody laugh at that. "Yeah that is the first thing Bella would worry about. I wouldn't have put her in a dress like that if I didn't think she can do it" came from Alice with an excited smile. "Oh damn wouldn't that be something to love at for the next ten years if she did fall" Emmett couldn't help ask.**

Then there was the guest list.

Tanya's family, the Denali clan, would be arriving sometime before the ceremony.

It would be touchy to have Tanya's family in the same room with our guests from the Quileute reservation, Jacob's father and the Clearwaters. The Denalis were no fans of the werewolves.

"**The Denali's knows about the werewolves" Rose asks giving Carlisle a confused look. "I haven't told them about them" Carlisle answers, also a little confused, but with idea of how they may have found out. "They probably found out when we went back" I say logically.**

In fact, Tanya's sister Irina was not coming to the wedding at all. She still nursed a vendetta against the werewolves for killing her friend Laurent (just as he was about to kill me).

"**Laurent" Alice and Rose exclaimed at the same time. "What the hell happened before this book's events occurred. Why couldn't they have send us a book about the minute we left" I ask in frustration. **

**Bella was in danger again. " She is probably in danger at this minute while we're reading this book" I say now worried. " Don't jump to conclusion, Edward" Esme put a hand on my shoulder. "Yes son, think about it logically. If Bella was in grave danger, this books events would not have occurred. I think we should read this through and afterwards decide what we're going to do" Carlisle says trying to minimize my fear.**

**I didn't like it but what he said made sense.**

Thanks to that grudge, the Denalis had abandoned Edward's family in their worst hour of need. It had been the unlikely alliance with the Quileute wolves that had saved all our lives when the horde of newborn vampires had attacked. . . .

"**Wow!" Emmett shouted with a laugh while all of us are shocked at what we're hearing. "What I tell you. Not a dull moment with our Bella." **

"**How does the newborns fit into this story" Jasper asks no one in particular. Just as confused as all of us but trying to calm everyone down. "We were so desperate that we asked the wolves for help?" Rose asks disgustedly.**

**Esme was the only one not just worried about the battle with the newborns. "So does that mean Irina found her mate in Laurent?" she asks Carlisle with a hopeful smile. " Looks like it. But it doesn't do much good because he is gonna die for trying to kill Bella" Emmett answered with out tact. Carlisle gives him a look when Esme gasps. "I'm sure now that we have this book we're going to fix everything that went wrong" he tries to reassure her.**

"**So what, their angry because we're not angry at the wolves for saving Bella's life when Laurent tried to kill her" Alice asks trying to make sense out of the Denali's logic.**

**Something else occurred to me that should have occurred sooner. "That means when Laurent tries to kill Bella we're not there" I tell them worriedly. I can hear everyone worrying now.**

Edward had promised me it wouldn't be dangerous to have the Denalis near the Quileutes. Tanya and all her family—besides Irina—felt horribly guilty for that defection. A truce with the werewolves was a small price to make up some of that debt, a price they were prepared to pay.

"**They better be" Emmett exclaimed with an angry look.**

That was the big problem, but there was a small problem, too: my fragile self-esteem.

**I frowned at that.**

I'd never seen Tanya before, but I was sure that meeting her wouldn't be a pleasant experience for my ego. Once upon a time, before I was born probably, she'd made her play for Edward—

**The 'kids' laugh at that. "You told her about that,man? Haven't you learn anything while living with three couples bro? You never tell girls about your past experiences. Even if their non existent like your" Emmett ask still chuckling.**

"**So that means you've done something I don't know about" Rosalie asks in a low threatening voice. "Well I didn't mean me. I meant all other guys" he back-pedalled. Bearing himself further in a hole. 'Lets have a little fun with this' Jasper's thoughts came to me. Jasper intensify Rosalie's feeling of anger. "You're lying to my face Emmett" she exclaimed, indignant. " Rosie" is all Emmett could get out. Alice seeing where this is going gives Jasper a look. Jasper and I couldn't help breaking our cover and laughing out loud when we saw the fear on Emmett's face. "Stop it you two" Alice says with exasperation.**

not that I blamed her or anyone else for wanting him.

**Rosalie rolled her eyes at that.**

Still, she would be beautiful at the very least and magnificent at best. Though Edward clearly—if inconceivably—preferred me, I wouldn't be able to help making comparisons.

"**Bella" is all I can say with frustration, amusement and exasperation in my voice. **

I had grumbled a little until Edward, who knew my weaknesses, made me feel guilty.

"We're the closest thing they have to family, Bella," he'd reminded me. "They still feel like orphans, you know, even after all this time."

"**Oh you guys sound like such a young married couple already. Having a little disagreement" Emmett says with fake fondness.**

So I'd conceded, hiding my frown.

Tanya had a big family now, almost as big as the Cullens. There were five of them; Tanya, Kate, and Irina had been joined by Carmen and Eleazar much the same way the Cullens had been joined by Alice and Jasper, all of them bonded by their desire to live more compassionately than normal vampires did.

For all the company, though, Tanya and her sisters were still alone in one way. Still in mourning. Because a very long time ago, they'd had a mother, too.

I could imagine the hole that loss would leave, even after a thousand years; I tried to visualize the Cullen family without their creator, their center, and their guide—their father, Carlisle. I couldn't see it.

**Everyone shuttered at that especially Esme. Not wanting to think about that at all. Putting her arms around his waist.**

Carlisle had explained Tanya's history during one of the many nights I'd stayed late at the Cullens' home, learning as much as I could, preparing as much as was possible for the future I'd chosen.

"**See Edward? She is not taking what is going to happen lightly. One thing I learn and like about my future daughter-in-law is that she has a good head on her shoulders.**

**I smile at him. A little bit more reassured now.**

Tanya's mother's story was one among many, a cautionary tale illustrating just one of the rules I would need to be aware of when I joined the immortal world. Only one rule, actually—one law that broke down into a thousand different facets: _Keep the secret_.

Keeping the secret meant a lot of things—living inconspicuously like the Cullens, moving on before humans could suspect they weren't aging. Or keeping clear of humans altogether—except at mealtime—the way nomads like James and Victoria had lived; the way Jasper's friends, Peter and Charlotte, still lived. It meant keeping control of whatever new vampires you created, like Jasper had done when he'd lived with Maria. Like Victoria had failed to do with her newborns.

"**Victoria!" She started the newborns. I couldn't be more surprised. I didn't think she had it in her to go that far. "She had to know she was going to get caught when the Volturi found out about that" Rosalie says shaking her head at the actions taken by the vampire. She probably was in grieve with us killing James and wasn't thinking about the consequences but revenge" Jasper stated logically.**

"**At least we know that we are going to defeat them" Alice says relieved. "Yeah that's a fight I can't wait for" Emmett says with excitement.**

And it meant not creating some things in the first place, because some creations were uncontrollable.

"I don't know Tanya's mother's name," Carlisle had admitted, his golden eyes, almost the exact shade of his fair hair, sad with remembering Tanya's pain. "They never speak of her if they can avoid it, never think of her willingly.

"The woman who created Tanya, Kate, and Irina—who loved them, I believe—lived many years before I was born, during a time of plague in our world, the plague of the immortal children.

"It looks like we really told her everything. I didn't want her to know all the gruesome details about our history" I say worriedly to Carlisle. " It's better to be well informed, Son. That way see knows what to expect."

"**You know Bella will probably be the first Vampire who goes into this willingly and be well informed about us" Esme murmurs. I looked at her in surprise. I haven't really though about it like that. "I wonder if this is going to have a positive effect on her time as a newborn" Carlisle asks thoughtfully. "Because most of the difficulties of being a newborn is being disorientated with your new environment.**

"What they were thinking, those ancient ones, I can't begin to understand. They created vampires out of humans who were barely more than infants."

I'd had to swallow back the bile that rose in my throat as I'd pictured what he was describing.

"They were very beautiful," Carlisle had explained quickly, seeing my reaction. "So endearing, so enchanting, you can't imagine. You had but to be near them to love them; it was an automatic thing.

"However, they could not be taught. They were frozen at whatever level of development they'd achieved before being bitten. Adorable two-year-olds with dimples and lisps that could destroy half a village in one of their tantrums. If they hungered, they fed, and no words of warning could restrain them. Humans saw them, stories circulated, fear spread like fire in dry brush. . . .

"Tanya's mother created such a child. As with the other ancients, I cannot fathom her reasons." He'd taken a deep, steadying breath. "The Volturi became involved, of course."

I'd flinched as I always did at that name, but of course the legion of Italian vampires—royalty in their own estimation—was central to this story. There couldn't be a law if there was no punishment; there couldn't be a punishment if there was no one to deliver it. The ancients Aro, Caius, and Marcus ruled the Volturi forces; I'd only met them once,

"**Oh my god! She met them" Alice shouted in shock.I was shocked still. I couldn't move if I wanted to. " Bella is gonna get us killed" Emmett joked with amusement. "Hey, but what the hell.I'll take her in anyway, better to die with excitement than live dull for another hundred years" he says nodding his head. "Emmett!" came from Esme but not with the usual disapproving look because she was also worried about what this means.**

"**Why do you think she met them" Rosalie asks the question on everyone's mind. "Does that mean they know that she knows about vampires" Jasper asks Carlisle with worry.**

**I could hear that Carlisle was also worried but didn't show it. "I don't know. He probably does know, but we all know the rule. So if he does know she shouldn't be alive right now" he could help but state the fact even though he didn't want to say it.**

"**Do you think they found out about our relationship and came to investigate" I ask him.**

" **Yes, that could be it, but we don't have enough information to go on."**

"**We are all still alive, that's a positive thing. If they tried to kill Bella I don't think we would have sit back and done nothing" came from Emmett also now seeing the big problem. "I don't think there would have been anything we could do about it. With having Alec they would have hold us off. So it didn't come to fight. We had to have made an agreement with Aro to not kill Bella" Jasper says, always the strategist.**

"**Let's just keep reading. The book will have the info we need" says Rose.**

but in that brief encounter, it seemed to me that Aro, with his powerful mind-reading gift—one touch, and he knew every thought a mind had ever held—was the true leader.

"**So he does know" I state with resignation and fear.**

"The Volturi studied the immortal children, at home in Volterra and all around the world. Caius decided the young ones were incapable of protecting our secret. And so they had to be destroyed.

"I told you they were loveable. Well, covens fought to the last man—were utterly decimated—to protect them. The carnage was not as widespread as the southern wars on this continent, but more devastating in its own way. Long-established covens, old traditions, friends… Much was lost. In the end, the practice was completely eliminated. The immortal children became unmentionable, a taboo.

"When I lived with the Volturi, I met two immortal children, so I know firsthand the appeal they had. Aro studied the little ones for many years after the catastrophe they'd caused was over. You know his inquisitive disposition; he was hopeful that they could be tamed. But in the end, the decision was unanimous: the immortal children could not be allowed to exist."

I'd all but forgotten the Denali sisters' mother when the story returned to her.

"It is unclear precisely what happened with Tanya's mother," Carlisle had said. "Tanya, Kate, and Irina were entirely oblivious until the day the Volturi came for them, their mother and her illegal creation already their prisoners. It was ignorance that saved Tanya's and her sisters' lives. Aro touched them and saw their total innocence, so they were not punished with their mother.

"None of them had ever seen the boy before, or dreamed of his existence, until the day they watched him burn in their mother's arms. I can only guess that their mother had kept her secret to protect them from this exact outcome. But why had she created him in the first place? Who was he, and what had he meant to her that would cause her to cross this most uncrossable of lines? Tanya and the others never received an answer to any of these questions. But they could not doubt their mother's guilt, and I don't think they've ever truly forgiven her.

**Everyone was sad, hearing the story again. Some pains never go away no matter how much time passes.**

**But I could hear in most of their thoughts that they couldn't blame the Volturi for this due to the fact that we do need them, otherwise there would be chaos. And the law I have broken and they by association. **

"Even with Aro's perfect assurance that Tanya, Kate, and Irina were innocent, Caius wanted them to burn. Guilty by association. They were lucky that Aro felt like being merciful that day. Tanya and her sisters were pardoned, but left with unhealing hearts and a very healthy respect for the law. . . ."

I'm not sure where exactly the memory turned into a dream. One moment it seemed that I was listening to Carlisle in my memory, looking at his face, and then a moment later I was looking at a gray, barren field and smelling the thick scent of burning incense in the air. I was not alone there.

The huddle of figures in the center of the field, all shrouded in ashy cloaks, should have terrified me—they could only be Volturi, and I was, against what they'd decreed at our last meeting, still human. But I knew, as I sometimes did in dreams, that I was invisible to them.

Scattered all around me were smoking heaps. I recognized the sweetness in the air and did not examine the mounds too closely. I had no desire to see the faces of the vampires they had executed, half afraid that I might recognize someone in the smoldering pyres.

The Volturi soldiers stood in a circle around something or someone, and I heard their whispery voices raised in agitation. I edged closer to the cloaks, compelled by the dream to see whatever thing or person they were examining with such intensity. Creeping carefully between two of the tall hissing shrouds, I finally saw the object of their debate, raised up on a little hillock above them.

He was beautiful, adorable, just as Carlisle had described. The boy was a toddler still, maybe two years of age. Light brown curls framed his cherubic face with its round cheeks and full lips. And he was trembling, his eyes closed as if he was too frightened to watch death coming closer every second.

I was struck with such a powerful need to save the lovely, terrified child that the Volturi, despite all their devastating menace, no longer mattered to me. I shoved past them, not caring if they realized my presence. Breaking free of them altogether, I sprinted toward the boy.

Only to stagger to a halt as I got a clear view of the hillock that he sat upon. It was not earth and rock, but a pile of human bodies, drained and lifeless. Too late not to see these faces. I knew them all—Angela, Ben, Jessica, Mike.… And directly beneath the adorable boy were the bodies of my father and my mother.

The child opened his bright, bloodred eyes.

"**Weird dream" Emmett says with a grimace and I couldn't help grimacing with him.**


End file.
